English for Employability: A Case Study of the English Language Training Need Analysis for Engineering Students in India

Clement, A.; Murugavel, T.

English Language Teaching, v8 n2 p116-125 2015

This article examines the effectiveness of English language courses offered in the engineering colleges in India. Many engineering graduates in India are found to be unemployable due to their poor communication skills and lack of confidence. There have been a lot of research papers that have reiterated the importance of improving engineering graduates' employability skills; however, the problem of poor communication skills grows unabated in India. This study is mainly conducted to understand the reality in English classrooms of engineering colleges to unravel the mystery behind the poor performance of many engineering graduates in India. It has been identified that many third year students are still lacking confidence to face their campus placements that are to take place in their final year of study. Moreover, it has been found that the methodologies of faculty members need to be enhanced as large number of students want more interactive sessions to improve their language skills. The survey results have shown evidence of gap between the English professors' methodology and engineering students' confidence levels and also accentuate the importance of suitable training programs for required for engineering students.